Despite the chaos and the presence of invading military forces, Valessandria didn't notice any buildings that were severely damaged. The fact that the buildings appeared normal, with only a few that had caught fire -- likely due to negligence as they frantically escaped.

But now that Valessandria realized what was wrong while she raced through the village, a sinking feeling in her stomach began to grow.

Shaking her head, she reminded herself that helping the people out took precedence.

There was the occasional smell of smoke that wafted through her helmet. As Valessandria navigated

The only problem was that she didn’t see any damage done to the buildings. With the intensity of those spells, she would have thought that some of the houses would be on fire. Nothing was adding up, and this made her nervous.

As she approached the other entrance, where the Empire's forces would be coming to Leaf Village, Valessandria's eyes were drawn toward the towering structure that rose out of the grown as though the darkened figure of an eldritch giant sitting on the floor.

Valessandria felt a shiver run down her spine.

The closer she approached the entrance, the villagers slowly started to become scarce.

Without the need to be concerned about trampling people beneath her horse's hooves, Valessandria increased her horse's pace toward the thing that was entirely out of place. But as she rushed towards the other entrance, a sense of dread slowly crept up her body.

Valessandria even had to urge her horse several times to pick up the pace, the animal slowly down and fighting the years of training placed on it.

"What is wrong?" Valessandria asked the horse, confused by the behavior.

The horse snorted and whined, shaking its head. Added on top was how it began to slow down, resisting its rider's commands.

If it were any other time, Valessanria would've felt annoyance and anger towards the horse during such a precarious scenario. Still, even she dreaded going to see what was happening ahead of them.

"It is okay," Valessandria gently stroked the neck of the horse.

Taking a deep breath, Valessandria understood there was no point in forcing the horse to move forward. The animal may have been trained at the Academy, but there were still the natural instincts deep within its mind.

With what existed in the air, no animals would likely approach the village's entrance.

Getting off the horse, Valessandria touched her side where her sheathed sword was attached. Feeling the hilt, a sense of calm and reassurance was felt.

Valessandria took a moment to look around at the village. Around her, the houses were still standing and barely touched. This was on top of the lack of people. It felt as though it were a ghost village, the type you hear about where all the residents pass away due to an unknown illness killing everything like wildfire -- leaving only the memories of what existed behind.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Continuing to have a hand on her weapon, Valessandria took another deep breath. Part of her wanted to remove her helmet, to remove some of the constrictive feelings, but she knew that it would be foolish. But despite her training, there was a sense that there was nothing left that could threaten her.

Even as she strained to hear anything, not even the wind blew, the night silent and haunting.

The sound of wheels and the growls of a monster made Valessandria jerk toward the sound. Her hand nearly ripped the sword out of its scabbard -- only stopped by her professional demeanor.

"Who goes there?!" Valessandria yelled towards the carriage that seemed to materialize out of the night, only a few lanterns from nearby buildings offering any illumination.

Valessandria paused at the sight of the monster, possibly a dragon, pulling the carriage. Due to the size of it, she didn't notice the woman that sat in the driver's seat and holding the reins.

The woman had blue shoulder-length hair and golden eyes that seemed to glow, piercing into her body. The woman's gaze gave the sense that she was able to see through all things, an unpleasant sensation that put Valessandria on guard.

"I ask again! Who are you, and state your business! I am Valessandria, Lady Knight of the free nation of Illumin Academic City!" Valessandria called out again.

For some reason, her training told Valessandria that she should run away immediately. Her hand that gripped the hilt of her sword trembled slightly.

The driver merely stared at Valessandria as though she weren't worth the energy to pay attention to her. It starkly contrasted with the dragon monster that looked at her hungrily as though Valessandria were a late-night snack.

Gritting her teeth, Valessandria pulled from deep inside of herself every ounce of courage she could muster.

As though sensing that Valessandria was at her limits, the door to the carriage opened silently.

Compared to the eerie atmosphere around them, what wasn't expected to emerge out of the carriage was a beautiful woman with long red hair in an outfit that would put any noble to shame despite the appearance of a courtesan. The way she moved made the word graceful insufficient to describe her movements.

It wouldn't be strange if the woman made all noble women jealous as their husbands stared lustfully at her gorgeous body that oozed with lustful energy.

Before Valessandria could wonder if the woman was a noble, the woman stood to the side and kept the door open as though she were a simple maid. Her eyes widened in alarm, throwing her thoughts about in confusion.

"Who is the employer of this woman?" Valessandria couldn't imagine anyone worthy enough to afford such a woman.

Stepping out of the carriage, the light from the nearby lanterns and the moonlight made the next woman's skin glow due to how pale it was. Compared to the first woman, this one made the hair on Valessandria's body stand straight from fear. It was as if Valessandria were looking at Death's mistress.

Leather covered much of the pale woman's voluptuous body, a whip attached to her side.

The next woman only made Valessandria's mouth drop in awe. Compared to the first two women, she wondered if her eyes had failed her to think the other two were beautiful.

Long black hair flowed down her back like a peaceful stream, slightly moving due to her aethereal movement. Suppose women worldwide had a Queen to worship. In that case, Valessandria couldn't help but admit that she would be one of the first to swear allegiance. Her heart beat faster as her face became hot under her helm.

Valessandria imagined that it wouldn't be strange for her to drop to her knees if things were different.

Slowly, Valessandria's eyes climbed the woman's body. If someone had told her that the woman was carved directly from the hands of the gods, she wouldn't doubt it in the least.

Each woman looked at Valessandria with boredom as though annoyed by the interruption.

Seeing their expressions made Valessandria's heart drop as though she had let women of such nobility down. If not for the unusual dread she also felt and her duties, Valessandria could imagine that she would've begged them for forgiveness.